


Contemplations

by Nadat



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Character Development, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hopeful Ending, Humor, M/M, Past Character Death, Post-Canon, Screenplay/Script Format, Time Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28724442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadat/pseuds/Nadat
Summary: Sometimes Orbs lead to awkward situations.
Relationships: Julian Bashir & Elim Garak
Comments: 11
Kudos: 18
Collections: Sid City Social Club Script Collection





	Contemplations

_KIRA is on screen, looking like she’s catching her breath and looking around. Room is preferably as close to a white void as possible._

KIRA:  
Hello?

JADZIA:  
Hello?

_JADZIA is now on the screen, looking confused as well, room equally white. KIRA’s stunned._

KIRA:  
Jadzia. You…

JADZIA:  
Kira! What’s going on? I was just in ops and now it’s all white except I can see you..

KIRA:  
Orb. It’s... It was an orb. It is an orb.

JADZIA:  
I didn’t realize we had one on board again.

KIRA:  
A couple of days ago.

_KIRA is clearly leaving something out, and she looks at a loss._

JAKE:  
Dad?

JADZIA:  
I’m flattered, but I think Ben would be a little upset to hear you call me that.

_JAKE joins KIRA and JADZIA on screen._

JAKE:  
Jadzia? How? 

_JADZIA is clearly at a loss now too._

JADZIA:  
Jake? You got… You look…

KIRA:  
Older.

JAKE:  
Are you guys prophets? Is that why everything’s white?

JULIAN:  
Oh, is that what’s going on?

_JULIAN now joins the other three._

JULIAN:  
Some sort of prophet thing?

KIRA:  
We had an issue with an orb.

GARAK:  
You know who never had an issue with orbs?

_GARAK joins them, making it a party of five._

KIRA:  
You really want to go there? Because we can go there.

JULIAN:  
Maybe we shouldn’t cause a galactic incident because of an orb issue?

QUARK:  
But there might be profit in it.

_QUARK comes on screen, shaking his head._

JADZIA:  
I hardly see how it would be galactic. Space-station-wide, maybe.

_There’s a pause. It’s heavy. JADZIA gets that she’s out of the loop, but doesn’t know how or why, exactly._

JAKE:  
One of them’s Cardassia’s ambassador to the Federation and the other’s a colonel, now. I think you can guess which is which.

JADZIA:  
The orb of time, that’s the one you’re having issues with.

JULIAN:  
But why are we all apparently caught in it? Some of us are rather far afield, and… clearly it’s reaching into the past, too.

JADZIA:  
I could just as easily say the future. But you’re looking good for an old man.

JULIAN:  
And you’re lovely as ever, Jadzia.

GARAK:  
I think we can say everyone looks good except for Quark.

QUARK:  
Excuse me?

JAKE:  
Not to interrupt, but Julian had a question. This isn’t just time being messed with.

KIRA:  
We’re… crashing. Or maybe we’ve crashed, it’s hard to say.

QUARK:  
We as in…?

KIRA:  
Myself, two vedeks, the Kai, the orb of time, the orb of truth, and the orb of prophecy and change.

JULIAN:  
Where? Maybe someone’s close, maybe we can help.

KIRA:  
Bajor. And I don’t think any of you are close.

QUARK:  
Rom is. He and Leeta are visiting, turned it into some sort of state visit.

KIRA:  
No they’re… Wait. Is Leeta pregnant?

QUARK:  
She just announced.

KIRA:  
...that was eight months ago.

JAKE:  
But that’s good. That’s good, right? Once we get Quark back, he has eight months to get help to where you are. 

JULIAN:  
There’s the temporal prime directive to take into consideration here, Jake. If we sent help or not.

GARAK:  
Except, excuse me, my dear, but you and Lieutenant Dax are the only ones who are bound by that. The rest of us are not. And this isn’t happening in Federation space.

JADZIA:  
I never thought I’d be outnumbered by the non-starfleet personnel. But Garak’s got a point, Julian.

QUARK:  
Eight months is plenty of time to do something, for the right price.

KIRA:  
I remember why we only invited Rom, Leeta, and Nog and not you.

JULIAN:  
I suppose there’s another issue on top of who some of us serve. How do we get out of this to even help in the first place? 

JAKE:  
Yeah! Aren’t there supposed to be some prophets here? To be vague at us?

KIRA:  
The prophets work in mysterious ways.

JAKE:  
(grumbling) Too mysterious, sometimes.

QUARK:  
Pointless, if you ask me.

KIRA:  
I’m not asking you. I’m… I don’t know what’s going on, or what to do.

GARAK:  
At least we know it’s not the Cardassians at fault this time. Also I believe I may be just two months ahead of your accident, Colonel, so perhaps I can also put something in motion. I’m currently on Cardassia again; it wouldn’t be difficult.

JAKE:  
Once we get back.

GARAK:  
There is that.

_There’s a short pause._

JADZIA:  
Time, Prophecy and Change, and Truth. There’s got to be something there we can work with, if the Prophets don’t care to help us out.

JULIAN:  
Maybe it’s one of those ‘help you by you helping yourselves’ things species like to pull.

KIRA:  
Ugh.

GARAK:  
I have to agree with the Colonel here. But if time is a factor, doctor, young Mr. Sisko, where do you fall in the timeline? 

JAKE:  
I can’t believe you’re still calling me young. I’m… I don’t know. I don’t remember hearing about any visit by the Grand Nagus to Bajor.

JADZIA:  
...Grand Nagus?

JULIAN:  
(gently) Rom’s the Grand Nagus. Zek appointed him.

QUARK:  
Zek went senile, got with my moogie, and promoted Rom. It’s a wonder our economy is still doing better than Cardassia’s.

GARAK:  
That’s all the more proof you’re in my past. Cardassia has become quite stable and the Ferenginar markets are crashing.

QUARK:  
I knew it!

KIRA:  
He’s lying.

QUARK:  
I knew that.

JULIAN:  
If I may interrupt. I don’t recall anything about a visit to Bajor either. It’s been… It’s been one year since I left Deep Space Nine.

GARAK:  
Ah. Thirteen months since Ezri broke up with you.

JULIAN:  
(testy): Yes, thank you, Garak.

JAKE:  
Then the timeline’s Dax, Doctor Bashir, me, Quark, Ambassador Garak, Colonel Kira. Ezri visited Kasidy for a while after the breakup.

JADZIA:  
Wait, Julian met someone?

JULIAN:  
I’ve met more than a few people!

JADZIA:  
It sounds like it was something serious though, that’s new.

KIRA:  
I don’t think now’s the time to go into that.

JADZIA:  
What happened to the Kira who gossips with me for hours? Or the Garak, for that matter, I’m surprised you’re not filling me in either.

GARAK:  
Ezri’s a Betazoid. As you can guess, it made for very complicated relationships on the station. 

JULIAN:  
Garak.

JADZIA:  
So not a Betazoid then.

KIRA:  
Can we talk about something else please?

JAKE:  
What if we’re not supposed to? What if there’s a reason it’s time and truth and the other?

KIRA:  
There’s not. Those are just the orbs that were in the shuttle.

QUARK:  
Weren’t you just saying the prophets work in mysterious ways?

JAKE:  
There’s a human saying. The truth will set you free. Maybe we should try it?

GARAK:  
Which truth?

JULIAN:  
Maybe we’re here to confront something we may not fully be over.

GARAK:  
In that case, I should hardly be here. I’m quite at peace with my past.

QUARK:  
I have no regrets except for letting my idiot brother live long enough to become Grand Nagus.

JADZIA:  
I should have taken Captain Boday up on his offer of a threesome.

KIRA:  
I still don’t see what you see in him.

GARAK:  
His brain, clearly.

KIRA:  
Look. If Jake’s right… Then fine. Fine. I regret not killing Dukat. I don’t know when I would have done it, but I should have.

GARAK:  
...On second thought, I should have killed him as the Klingon invasion of the station slowed down. His back was to me! That is my one and only regret.

KIRA:  
Only?

GARAK:  
Are you suggesting something, Colonel?

KIRA:  
I’m just saying that if we’re supposed to be telling the truth, you could stand to speak a few more.

JAKE:  
I wish one of you had done it. Killed him.

[beat]

JULIAN:  
Surely you don’t mean that.

JAKE:  
I’d have my dad to keep instead of short visits. I’d still have ties to Starfleet so I’d see all of you more often. I wish one of you had taken Dukat out.

JADZIA:  
What happened to Ben?

KIRA:  
He went to confront the pah-wraiths for the prophets and they took him. Now he’s practically more prophet than emissary. But that probably would have happened anyway, Jake.

JADZIA:  
Whether it would or wouldn’t have, it sounds like you’ve pretty much lost him. I’m sorry, Jake.

KIRA:  
And you.

JADZIA:  
Ben was my best friend, but Jake’s the one that’s hurting more.

JULIAN:  
She means we lost you, Jadzia. If… (trails off)

GARAK:  
If either of us had eliminated Dukat when we had the chance, a great many lives would have been saved. Yours included, my dear.

JADZIA:  
...Do I have time to hire a tailor to do some seam-ripping?

GARAK:  
(laughs darkly) Make him an offer and you may.

_There’s a pause as if people are waiting for something._

GARAK:  
What, doctor? Do you have nothing to say about the timeline now?

JULIAN:  
It’s not up to me. But I’ll point out that we’re still here. This isn’t helping anything.

KIRA:  
Truth, change, and time. Maybe it is. Maybe we’re meant to change things. 

GARAK:  
Humans do have a saying, a stitch in time saves nine. Consider what changes could come from this.

JULIAN:  
We won the war. What if these changes make us lose it? 

KIRA:  
What if Jadzia has to die?

JULIAN:  
That’s not what I’m saying! I’m saying what if Dukat has to do what he did to destabilize Cardassia so the Romulans join in and we defeat the Dominion? We barely made it!

GARAK:  
Such a little price to pay, billions of Cardassians, the lieutenant here, Captain Sisko, Ziyal, shall I go on?

JAKE:  
We’ve shared a truth or two and we’re still here.

QUARK:  
So what now? We sit here and wait for Sisko to pop out of the white and rescue us?

JULIAN:  
I don’t have answers, Garak. Or anyone. I don’t want people to die, but that’s also--I don’t want to support murder. There’s a difference.

GARAK:  
So death by inaction is, to you, different from death by action.

JULIAN:  
Garak.

GARAK:  
Doctor.

KIRA:  
Can we flirt another time? We’re all still stuck here.

QUARK:  
Oh, come on, Colonel. Surely you’ve missed watching them argue-flirt at each other. It always made me feel better about my luck.

JAKE:  
Wait, that’s what that’s about?

JULIAN:  
What? No. He picks arguments for argument’s sake and I… argue. That’s all.

JADZIA:  
If that’s your truth, Julian.

JULIAN:  
Excuse me?

GARAK:  
This isn’t getting us out of here and I have a murder to commit so shall we continue?

QUARK:  
And I have profits to rake in.

KIRA:  
Orb sessions usually end when people have a revelation.

JADZIA:  
(snarkily) Well, my new information is that apparently Dukat kills me. What’s there to realize?

JAKE:  
(softly) Maybe how much you’re missed.

_JADZIA visibly softens. KIRA offers a sad smile._

KIRA:  
It’s true.

GARAK:  
And we’ve realized that we can potentially send a message to the past and change things.

QUARK:  
Maybe give some of us chances we didn’t have before.

KIRA:  
She’s not going to tell past-you that Rom becomes Grand Nagus so you off him. She’s gonna deal with Dukat. Or get Garak to deal with him.

JADZIA:  
Definitely Garak. There’s no honor in killing Dukat and Curzon would be pissed.

JAKE:  
Dad would be too.

JULIAN:  
I have to object, you all know that. 

GARAK:  
(fondly) We’d expect nothing else, my dear.

JADZIA:  
It sounds like I could stand to drop some other hints too.

KIRA:  
And ruin all of the fun?

QUARK:  
And ruin my betting pool?

JULIAN:  
What?

JADZIA:  
My own attempt at sewing something, Julian. One of the Daxes should try it, after all.

GARAK:  
One should take the intended pattern into consideration before they begin the project.

JADZIA:  
I will.

_JADZIA vanishes from the screen_.

JAKE:  
It won’t change here, will it. Like, it’s making an alternate universe, another mirror.

KIRA:  
But they’ll have her, at least. 

JAKE:  
And that Jake will get to keep his dad, maybe.

KIRA:  
Maybe.

JAKE:  
A chance is good. It’s good.

_JAKE vanishes._

QUARK:  
Wait, what about me? None of this impacts me at all! How am I supposed to get out? 

JULIAN:  
You can’t tell me you wouldn’t be glad to have Jadzia back when it doesn’t cost you anything.

QUARK:  
No, but I’m hardly profiting. She’s marrying Worf! Married to Worf. Who the hell knows; she didn’t say when she was from.

KIRA:  
Maybe your clarity should come from realizing not everything revolves around profit.

QUARK:  
Spoken like someone who has no money.

GARAK:  
Perhaps you need to accept that your brother will be Grand Nagus in two universes, at least.

QUARK:  
That can’t be it.

JULIAN:  
Maybe you needed to let go of Jadzia.

QUARK:  
Nah.

KIRA:  
Maybe we don’t care.

GARAK:  
Perhaps we should focus on our own matters and getting ourselves out.

KIRA:  
Considering two of you might be key to saving me from this I’d appreciate that.

JULIAN:  
And I’m chopped liver, I suppose.

_There’s a pause._

GARAK:  
I suggest a wager.

KIRA:  
On if that’s another stupid human saying?

QUARK:  
Of course it is. He’s human.

JULIAN:  
Excuse me.

GARAK:  
How, exactly, does liver object?

QUARK:  
Failing after too much drinking?

KIRA:  
No, he said excuse him. He wants excuses.

JULIAN:  
Aer you seriously teaming up on me?

GARAK:  
What else is there to do? Regale each other with tales of the ‘good old days?’ Mourn Morn?

QUARK:  
I mourn the loss of his tips.

KIRA:  
I don’t mourn the way you couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

JULIAN:  
I mourn peace and quiet. 

QUARK:  
And you think I don’t? I’m stuck here with you idiots yammering on about truth and lives and they’re gone. That’s the story. The past is the past for us and we can’t change it here. Maybe Jadzia and a Garak I don’t want to meet get conspiratory and change their universe but what’s it got to do with me? Nothing. Nothing at all.

JULIAN:  
Quark…

QUARK:  
The truth is that sure, I liked you guys. You were fine. Annoying sometimes. Arrogant. Full of yourselves. Friendlier than you should have been. And now it’s been years and I’ve heard from some of you a half-dozen times, others once or twice. So there. That’s your truth. You think everyone’s all good buddies and friends but the truth is you’ve forgotten me.

GARAK:  
I haven’t.

QUARK:  
Because Cardassia needs someone who only cares about latinum and not galactic politics, a power that doesn’t hate them for siding with the Dominion. How is this not enough truth? When do I get to go?

_QUARK vanishes._

KIRA:  
...then, apparently.

GARAK:  
Perhaps we should copy his example? Rant at the universe?

JULIAN:  
Or maybe the two of you have something else to come to.

GARAK:  
Us and not you?

JULIAN:  
I mean you two specifically. Do you really think murdering Dukat would be the best thing you could do?

GARAK:  
(instantly): Yes.

KIRA:  
His death would have saved a lot of lives, Julian.

JULIAN:  
Possibly. Or possibly others would have died instead. You can’t look at one person and say for certain that if they’re not part of the equation things would definitively be better. Not when there’s a hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who are just as desperate for power as him.

GARAK:  
But you can see the harm he committed, by his own hands.

JULIAN:  
You can’t kill everyone who has harmed people, though.

GARAK:  
What’s the loss if he’s gone, though?

KIRA:  
He’s talking about us personally killing him.

GARAK:  
And?

KIRA:  
He might have a point.

GARAK:  
What point?

KIRA:  
That maybe I shouldn’t regret not-killing Dukat. That maybe it’s best that my path didn’t lead me there.

JULIAN:  
I think it’s for the best that neither of your paths lead there. Even with the heavy losses we took. We won. We’re living in a world that’s not ruled by the Dominion. 

KIRA:  
And I don’t have the weight of that creature’s life on my pagh.

JULIAN:  
Exactly

KIRA:  
(beaming): Look at you getting all wise and giving advice. Sisko would be proud.

_KIRA vanishes._

__

__

_JULIAN:  
...I’ve had my moments before. I’m not a child._

GARAK:  
You’ll have to tell her in a few years, after the shuttle incident. That I need to help her out of, if we can find our ways out of this.

JULIAN:  
About Dukat--

_GARAK holds up a hand._

GARAK:  
That’s a futile path, doctor. Don’t travel down it. I’ve regretted not killing the man for such a very long time.

JULIAN:  
Then what path do we take? I can think of so many lies you’ve told me over the years. Should we pick one to unravel? 

GARAK:  
What of you? What truth aren’t you telling? Perhaps you should go first.

JULIAN:  
If I leave before you you’re likely never getting out of here, and we’ve got to save Kira.

GARAK:  
So it appears we’re at an impasse. I’ve told too many lies and you’ve told none.

JULIAN:  
I didn’t say that.

GARAK:  
Oh, but you meant it. You’ve always thought of yourself as a little better than me, doctor, admit it. You save lives while I take them with no compunction. You see the best in people as I mistrust them. There’s Garak, being suspicious again, being paranoid again. 

JULIAN:  
That’s not how I see you. 

GARAK:  
No? 

JULIAN:  
No, Garak. Elim, if I may. We’ve known each other long enough, and it’s just the two of us here now.

GARAK:  
I suppose if you must, doctor.

JULIAN:  
Will you let me help you?

GARAK:  
I beg your pardon?

JULIAN:  
You call me doctor, you accuse me of trying to save too many lives, but you never let me help. I’ve always had to force care on you.

GARAK:  
Is this what you want me to confront? My pride?

JULIAN:  
Your distance.

_[beat]_

JULIAN:  
I got your letter. I read it, all of it, and then tried to get in touch for months. You didn’t return any of my messages.

GARAK:  
Didn’t I? I must have been busy.

JULIAN:  
I know you have been. Ambassador to the Federation isn’t an easy job. But it’s been so long, Garak. Why would you send that letter, that massive letter, and then go quiet?

GARAK:  
Perhaps I said my piece and was at peace with that.

JULIAN:  
Really?

GARAK:  
It could be.

JULIAN:  
I don’t think there’s pride behind it. I think there’s fear.

GARAK:  
Really, my dear. Of all the things to accuse me of.

JULIAN:  
I think you’re afraid to hope. You don’t want to have regrets so you sent it, but you were afraid of what the response might be so you ignored me.

GARAK:  
Or I didn’t want to listen to some sermon of banalities.

_There’s a pause with JULIAN and GARAK looking at each other. JULIAN sighs._

JULIAN:  
Maybe you can’t say whatever it is you need to with me here. So I’ll say what I think it is I need to say, and I’ll hope you follow me to freedom after that. I’ve been blind, Garak. Elim. I’ve been oblivious. But I read a great deal in that letter, including the things between the lines, and I want to know more. I want to come to Cardassia. I want to try. So I’ll wait. I’ll wait until I hear about this visit to Bajor, and then I hope to hear from you, Elim. It’s your call.

_JULIAN vanishes. GARAK is quiet for a few moments before he shakes his head._

GARAK  
That wasn’t the truth, you know. He’s not going to wait. He’s going to call me as soon as he thinks the time has passed, so why did you let him out?

_[beat]_

Must I truly say it? That’s not who I am. That’s not true to me. Shouldn’t that matter?

_[beat, and then he sighs in resignation]_

Very well. You win. Yes. I’m afraid. Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all is an empty, nimrodic platitude. It is better to have hoped for him and wanted him than to possibly have him and break him. Is that e--

_GARAK vanishes._


End file.
